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My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir
by Clarence Thomas
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$26.95 |
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$10.78 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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Hardcover
Publisher: Harper
Format: Bargain Price
Provocative, inspiring, and unflinchingly honest, My Grandfather's Son is the story of one of America's most remarkable and controversial leaders, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, told in his own words. Thomas was born in rural Georgia on June 23, 1948, into a life marked by poverty and hunger. His parents divorced when Thomas was still a baby, and his father moved north to Philadelphia, leaving his young mother to raise him and his brother and sister on the ten dollars a week she earned as a maid. At age seven, Thomas and his six-year-old brother were sent to live with his mother's father, Myers Anderson, and her stepmother in their Savannah home. It was a move that would forever change Thomas's life. His grandfather, whom he called "Daddy," was a black man with a strict work ethic, trying to raise a family in the years of Jim Crow. Thomas witnessed his grandparents' steadfastness despite injustices, their hopefulness despite bigotry, and their deep love for their country. His own quiet ambition would propel him to Holy Cross and Yale Law School, and eventually—despite a bitter, highly contested public confirmation—to the highest court in the land. In this candid and deeply moving memoir, a quintessential American tale of hardship and grit, Clarence Thomas recounts his astonishing journey for the first time, and pays homage to the man who made it possible. Intimately and eloquently, Thomas speaks out, revealing the pieces of his life he holds dear, detailing the suffering and injustices he has overcome, including the acrimonious and polarizing Senate hearing involving a former aide, Anita Hill, and the depression and despair it created in his own life and the lives of those closest to him. My Grandfather's Son is the story of a determined man whose faith, courage, and perseverance inspired him to rise up against all odds and achieve his dreams.
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| Eye-opening; may well become a classic |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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A note to Americans who think that they had a difficult childhood: do just have a look at this moving autobiography of a (literally) dirt-poor black boy who grew up to become an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
Clarence Thomas had a very difficult and yet grandly formative childhood. His father deserted his mother, and finally Clarence and his siblings were raised by their grandfather, who was a hard-working, self-reliant man who expected the same from his grand-children and who brooked no nonsense. The result was that Clarence spent his childhood working his tail off; much later, as an adult, he remarked jokingly to his grandfather, "You know, slavery was abolished some while ago," only to get the reply, "Not in my house." Whew! You thought your Daddy was tough on you?
Another thing that becomes obvious is the importance of the Catholic church in Thomas's life. He initially thought he was cut out to be a priest, but finally abandoned that path and went to Yale Law School. After graduating, Thomas learned a hard lesson: his Yale Law degree was worth a whole lot less than his white classmates' Yale Law degrees, probably because the hiring companies smelled "affirmative action" and assumed that Clarence Thomas was simply a token.
Much taken aback by the amount of time & money he had put into Yale Law School, Thomas took a price sticker from a candy bar which read "15 cents" and pasted it on his Yale Law degree, where I believe it still remains.
This is a unique and valuable American saga. You can read how Thomas initially threw Thomas Sowell into the trash, but went back a year or two later to take another look, when he realized that his self-reliant grandfather ("the greatest man I ever knew") and Thomas Sowell had a whole lot in common. For people who believe that a conservative black is some sort of impossible contradiction, this book is necessary reading.
The tale of his confirmation hearings, when Thomas suffered an attempted lynching at the hands of the liberal elite, is only for those with strong stomachs.
Read it and weep; read it and rejoice.
A thought from Balzac, for your contemplation: "This poor young man suffered from bitter poverty, a kind of crucible from which great talents come forth pure and incorruptible as diamonds which can be submitted to all blows and never break. In the strong fire of their released passions, they acquire an unalterable honesty, and learn the habit of the struggles which await genius, by means of the constant work with which they have surrounded their deceived appetites."
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| Tales From a Lightning Rod |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Tom Sowell once said that you can tell the level of commitment of a liberal by how much he despises Clarence Thomas. How true. But - and I say this as one who admires Justice Thomas - who can blame them? It is difficult to think of a figure who bore the brunt of more of the vitriol, insinuations, accusations, smug assertions and flat out howls of execration from the Left than Thomas, but who didn't buckle under and was still standing at the end of it all (or, at least, at the end of any that matters, his life tenure on the Supreme Court being secure). They got Bork, but not Thomas.
But what of the man himself? I read this book after having read a Clarence Thomas: A Biography, a truly exceptional biography by Andrew Peyton Thomas (no relation to Justice Thomas) several years ago. MY GRANDFATHER'S SON is, in all honesty, not as good. However, as CLARENCE THOMAS (the biography) was really one of the best biographies I have read, Justice Thomas' own autobiography can fall below the standard of that book and still be quite worthwhile. That is indeed the case.
Thomas' descriptions of his early life in Georgia are almost harrowing in the poverty they describe. This wasn't simply a tough life, it was a real tough life, the likes of which it is difficult to imagine on one's own. It must burn Leftists, who unreflectively think that they alone have compassion for the poor, that a black kid could grow up in such an environment and the burning heat of poverty and racism (real racism, not the racism-lite of which we hear so much moaning today) produced a man like Thomas, whose opinions forged out of the experience constitute a complete rejection of Left ideas.
Believing in Thomas' alleged hypocrisy by 'taking advantage' of racial preferences only to reject them later is difficult to honestly maintain after reading Thomas' own view. Anyone familiar with the history of such preferences knows that, until relatively recently, it was not widely acknowledged just how large such preferences were (are!)(the lying of university officials on this point has been simply mind boggling). Thomas had no reason to suspect at the time that race played as big a factor into his admission to Yale Law School as perhaps it did. He was an excellent student and could have gotten into an excellent law school anyway, even if it were a few notches lower than Yale. When he discovered that a Yale Law degree meant one thing for blacks and another for whites, he recognized immediately the implications of race preferences and, showing himself to be a man more interested in standing for his ideals that being the prize token black of white liberals, rejected them. The more appropriate interpretation is that white liberals used race preferences to take advantage of Thomas - they are the ones who took an academically gifted black, placed him at Yale when he could have gotten into a good law school anyway, and then trash him as a hypocrite - for life!! - when Thomas decided to think for himself.
It is telling that the sections on Anita Hill are actually the least interesting parts of MY GRANDFATHER'S SON. Of course, it is here that Thomas' own interpretation of things might be the most slanted. His own views, though, do not change the facts of how Democrats were basically taking marching orders from Left-wing interest groups and that those groups, following Saul Alinsky to the T, simply tried to destroy a man for political gain. Disgusting.
Clarence Thomas is so controversial that it will take history to iron out the details and it will likely take time. No one single book is going to be determinative, but MY GRANDFATHER'S SON will weigh heavily on the scale.
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| Wow--a great read about a great man! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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After reading some of the reviews here, bought this on sale for my husband. He would read excerpts aloud and I knew I had to read it also. It really gave me a tremendous appreciation for the struggles of Judge Thomas and the honesty with which he shares his foibles, doubts, and failures, as well as celebrate his triumphs.
Clarence Thomas doesn't get the media attention others do (unless it's to try and tear him down) because he is a black conservative--but I for one am thankful he took the time to write such an honest, insightful account of his upbringing and journey through life, acknowledging those whose impact forever guided him.
Highly recommend!!!!
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| Insightful memoir |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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To fully understand the calibre of a man, is first to know the history of his life. Clarence Thomas's memoir shares the inner depths of his life. His story is insightful, fascinating, and provocative. His book shares a light on how his grandfather became his father and a force. The decisions he made and the advice his grandfather gave him is what has shaped who he is today. I believe that this book should be read by any youngster as well as those who dislike him. Overall, i strongly believe it is a great book.
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| An Easy Read and an Individual You'll Enjoy Getting to Know |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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When the Thomas Supreme Court hearings took place in the fall of 1991, my life was in a very complicated period and I hadn't the time to follow carefully. Pity. Clearly, Clarence Thomas was indeed, a victim of a "high tech lynching," no different really from other blacks who paid the ultimate price for real or imagined sexual indiscretions in the old south. He is a far more complicated and contemplative than I ever imagined. I like him; I believe his story and while his style of writing isn't exactly exciting, his life's tale is compelling and emotionally gripping. Once I picked up the book, it was very difficult to put it down. As a result of his upbringing and his spirit, Justice Thomas took the road less traveled and for doing so, he was made to pay a terrible price for that "indiscretion" during his senate confirmation hearings. What a wild ride his life has been. It is difficult to imagine how liberals would react if conservatives had done to Sonya Sotomayor the same things that liberals did to Clarence Thomas. If you've ever wondered about the vindictive and spiteful nature of politics in the big leagues, here's your book.
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